Chuang Tzu also called Chuang Chou (4th century B.C.), Chinese Taoist philosopher. According to many scholars, ideas in the inner chapters (chapters 1 to 7) of the text Chuang Tzu may be ascribed to the person Chuang Tzu, while the other chapters contain ideas related to his thought and later developments of his ideas. The inner chapters contain dialogues, stories, verses, sayings, and brief essays geared toward inducing an altered perspective on life. A realization that there is no neutral ground for adjudicating between opposing judgments made from different perspectives is supposed to lead to a relaxation of the importance one attaches to such judgments and to such distinctions as those between right and wrong, life and death, and self and others. The way of life advocated is subject to different interpretations. Parts of the text seem to advocate a way of life not radically different from the conventional one, though with a lessened emotional involvement. Other parts seem to advocate a more radical change; one is supposed to react spontaneously to situations one is confronted with, with no preconceived goals or preconceptions of what is right or proper, and to view all occurrences, including changes in oneself, as part of the transformation process of the natural order. See also TAOISM. K.-l.S.